Sport: The Betting Bowl

Like millions of armchair sportsmen, Robert L. Martin spent the final Sunday of 1973 in front of his TV set. Ensconced in the den of his Las Vegas home, he watched the Minnesota Vikings systematically destroy the Dallas Cowboys. Then he switched channels to see the Miami Dolphins take apart the Oakland Raiders. Unlike his fellow fans, though, Martin was actually hard at work all the time he was staring at the tube. Soon after the final gun sounded, he received a call from the Churchill Downs bookie parlor across town and announced his initial betting line for the Super Bowl:...

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